Five Things Our Fathers Taught Us, Inadvertently
by smilebackwards
Summary: Lessons learned as children are hard to forget. Five lessons learned.


**i. it's easy to work around the rules**

When their father enters the room, Kimiko is reading her textbooks at the desk. He does not give her a nod of approval, but in the Nakamura household the lack of censure amounts to almost the same thing.

Hiro is playing with his superhero action figures. They crash into each other with noises that make Kimiko's jaw clench. Kaito frowns and Hiro reluctantly picks up a schoolbook. Their father listens to the quiet rustle of pages turning for several minutes before he leaves the room as dourly as he entered.

Hiro waits a moment, then his eyes flick up to Kimiko's suspicious gaze. Smiling conspiratorially, he turns his book around.

Kimiko rolls her eyes, but her lips quirk upward at the comic book tucked between the pages.

**ii. i don't need a father, i have a brother**

Nathan is in Peter's room watching his younger brother build a tower out of Legos when their father decides it is time to discuss his college applications. Ignoring Peter, Arthur sits down on the Superman bedspread with a cursory glance of disdain and motions for Nathan to sit beside him.

Peter continues to build his colorful monstrosity as their father drones on about things that have already been decided, and Nathan nods in all the right places.

Arthur pats Nathan on the shoulder and leaves without so much as a look in Peter's direction. "Peter," Nathan says, gentle because he knows their father's casual dismissal is felt even if Peter doesn't really understand. "I love you."

Peter smiles up at him brightly. "I love you too," he chirps, offering a green block —his favorite color— for Nathan to put atop the tower which has reached the limits of Peter's short six-year-old height. Instead of taking it, Nathan boosts Peter up in his arms. Tongue between his teeth in earnest concentration, Peter carefully fits the Lego to the tower and claps his hands in delight.

"Good job, Pete," Nathan says proudly and hugs his brother tight.

**iii. i love you**

Claire is a fearless and energetic child, and her exploits fill her father with a desperation that he has not yet begun to understand.

There is an oak tree in their backyard. As soon as Claire started walking, Noah cut off all the branches he could reach. He knew that he couldn't child-proof the world, but it never hurt to be cautious.

Claire is at the age now where he can say, "Run out and play in the backyard," and not have to watch her every second. Some days this proves to be faulty logic.

"Daddy! Look at me!" Noah hears and he glances out the kitchen window. The world stops. Claire is in the oak tree, walking along a branch as if it is a balance beam, and seven feet seems like such a long way for a child to fall. He is out under the tree at record speed.

Claire jumps and he snatches her out of the air, arms trembling. He can't let her break. She is company property, after all.

And Claire says, "I love you, Daddy!" with such fervor. Like it will save her.

**iv. there is a secret in this house**

When Mohinder is seven years old, he finds a soft, stuffed elephant in the back of one of their home's many closets. He names it Anuj, and it becomes his constant companion.

One evening, on the floor of his father's study, Mohinder is playing at being a Raja. His father glances up from behind his desk and his dark eyes sharpen. "What is that you're playing with?" Chandra asks.

"This is Anuj. He's my friend," Mohinder replies innocently, glad of his distant father's interest. He holds up the stuffed elephant.

The desk chair spins wildly as his father launches himself up faster than Mohinder has ever seen. There is an emotion Mohinder does not understand in his father's eyes as he snatches the elephant out of Mohinder's slack hand.

Jaw dropping, Mohinder stares at his father. His calm, controlled father is breathing heavily as if he has just run a race and looking at Mohinder's toy like it holds some important secret.

"You cannot play with this," Chandra says with a finality that catches Mohinder's protest in his throat. He places the elephant on the highest shelf in the study and sits back at his desk as though nothing extraordinary has occurred.

For many days Mohinder contemplates ways to get Anuj down, but the shelf is very high and his father's study is locked more often now than it used to be.

**v. this is the way things work**

Gabriel has always understood the way things work. When he is young, his father takes him to the watch shop and teaches him things that he already intrinsically understands.

One summer Monday, Gabriel and his father walk silently down 47th Street. The sun glints off stop signs, making them glow like red Chinese lanterns. Inside the shop is dark and cool, full of quiet ticking and clear glass cases.

A man comes in with a gold pocket watch. Gabriel can hear the way the gears turn, one catching and stuttering and impeding the work of the others. His father hands him the watch to take to the backroom.

While the customer and his father discuss price and how long the work will take, Gabriel pops open the back cover of the watch and meticulously removes the faulty gear. He cleans it with a soft blue cloth, works in a drop of lubricating oil, and runs a speculative eye over the other pieces before using his father's delicate, gleaming instruments to carefully replace the gear.

Gabriel takes the watch back out to the showroom. "It's fixed," he says, offering it to the customer. The man laughs and pats him on the head. Gabriel moves out from under the hand, uncomfortable. The customer shakes his father's hand and says he'll be back on Friday.

In the backroom, Gabriel's father fiddles with the watch but can find nothing wrong with it. He looks at Gabriel with appraising eyes.

Gabriel has never striven to emulate his father, but if the watchmaker's son becomes a watchmaker, well, that's just the way things work.

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Review? No flames please. 


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